US accuses Russia over Baltic jet manoeuvre

A Russian jet fighter that intercepted a US Air Force reconnaissance plane on Friday did so in an "unsafe and unprofessional manner" over the Baltic Sea, the Pentagon has said.

It says the fighter performed a barrel roll plane over the American plane.

It is the second incident in the Baltic this month in which the US has accused Russian planes of flying aggressively.

Two Russian planes flew close to a US guided missile destroyer almost a dozen times in the Baltic on 13 April.

"There have been repeated incidents over the last year where Russian military aircraft have come close enough to other air and sea traffic to raise serious safety concerns, and we are very concerned with any such behaviour," Pentagon spokesman Daniel Hernandez said on Friday.

The US aircraft was operating in international airspace and at no time crossed into Russian territory. This unsafe and unprofessional air intercept has the potential to cause serious harm and injury to all air crews involved.

"More importantly, the unsafe and unprofessional actions of a single pilot have the potential to unnecessarily escalate tensions between countries."

Mr Hernandez said the Su-27's "erratic and aggressive manoeuvres" also threatened the safety of the US aircrew, coming within 7.6m (25ft) of the fuselage of the American plane before conducting its barrel roll.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday defended the flybys of warplanes over the US Navy destroyer in the Baltic Sea, insisting they were only looking at the ship "from a safe distance".

Military encounters between Russia and the US and its allies have escalated significantly over the past two years, ever since Russia's annexation of Crimea and the breakdown of relations between East and West.

The BBC's Gary O'Donoghue in Washington reported after the destroyer incident that Russia's actions were regarded by defence analysts as a flexing of muscle - a reminder that Russia has military might and cannot be pushed around.

But our correspondent says the frequency of such situations means many fear that a full-on confrontation - be it deliberate or accidental - is just a matter of time between the world's two great military powers.

US election 2016: Primary results 26 April

Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island hold elections on 26 April in a series of polls known as the "Acela Primary" - after the rail service which links all five states.

Republican frontrunner Donald Trump will seek to build on his big win in New York and further dent the hopes of Ted Cruz, who has formed a pact with John Kasich in a last-ditch effort to block Mr Trump's path to the nomination.

Hillary Clinton is hoping to deliver a knockout blow to challenger Bernie Sanders.

Results state by state

Click or tap on the links below for full results, provided by the Associated Press.

Connecticut

Delaware

Maryland

Pennsylvania

Rhode Island

The delegate tracker

Winning delegates, the people who endorse a candidate at the party conventions in July, is key to securing the nomination.

The Democratic totals include the delegates won per state, as well as so-called "unpledged" or "super delegates". Hillary Clinton has a huge lead among the party leaders and elected officials who each get a vote at the convention.

AP conducts surveys of these super delegates, and adds them to a candidate's totals if they indicate their support. But super delegates can - and do - change their minds during the course of the campaign, so the figures may shift as the race unfolds.

The delegate tracker is updated automatically. There may be a short delay between the delegates being assigned and the totals changing.

US ex-Senator Wofford, 90, to remarry to a man

A former US senator will get remarried this week - to someone of a different sex from his first spouse.

Harris Wofford, 90, wrote an opinion article in the New York Times voicing strong support for same-sex marriage.

He said he felt lucky to live at a time when marriage had been "strengthened" in this way.

Mr Wofford said his life was "a story of two great loves" - with his wife Clare, who died of leukaemia in 1996, and with Matthew Charlton, 40.

He wrote: " I don't categorise myself based on the gender of those I love. I had a half-century of marriage with a wonderful woman, and now am lucky for a second time to have found happiness."

In June 2015, the US Supreme Court struck down same-sex marriage bans in individual states, making gay and lesbian marriages legal across the country.

Clare was a strong influence through Mr Wofford's political career. The couple had three children together.

Mr Wofford, a Democrat, represented Pennsylvania in the US Senate between 1991 and 1995.

He started his political life at the age of 18 by founding the Student Federalists, an organisation that promoted world federal government.

He went on to become instrumental in the civil rights movement and joined the presidential campaign of John F Kennedy.

Later, he worked with Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.

Five years after his wife's death, Mr Wofford met Mr Charlton.

'Based on love'

Mr Wofford wrote: "Seeking to change something as deeply ingrained in law and public opinion as the definition of marriage seemed impossible.

"I was wrong, and should not have been so pessimistic.

"I had seen firsthand - working and walking with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. - that when the time was right, major change for civil rights came to pass in a single creative decade.

"At age 90, I am lucky to be in an era where the Supreme Court has strengthened what President Obama calls 'the dignity of marriage' by recognising that matrimony is not based on anyone's sexual nature, choices or dreams.

It is based on love."